Advice on Gasser or Combo

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I'm looking for advice to narrowing the list down, LMAO!!!! I honestly want to make a choice by mid September. Unit in place by October ready for the New England cold.
 
500 - 1000 is the norm. I have a 1000 gallons for a 60kw boiler. Works great.
 
Great to hear. I will look at the build and quality of each. Thats my concern. I want something thats a tank. I need something easy to operate as well. It needs to be easy enough for a 14 year old to handle.

Hopefully the Vigas is a better built unit!
I wanted something easy to operate as well so my wife could run it when I was away. That's why I opted for a unit with the lambda controls. Load and go! No "fine tuning" the dampers
 
From what crash stated, Vigas was less than Effecta by 500-1000 and effecta is less than Vedolux. From what I gathered Effecta has 70% market share in sweden. I got that from Hans at Effecta. Great guy and wasnt trying to sell me at all. Just giving me useful info.

Vedolux looks to be a VERY solid machine. If the Vigas can stand up to it, I may have cut my choices down. We'll see!!!! Having the Lambda sensor appears to a great addition that only increases effeciency. I also like the fact the storage can be added at any given time.
 
I'm looking for advice to narrowing the list down, LMAO!!!! I honestly want to make a choice by mid September. Unit in place by October ready for the New England cold.
Well in that case have you seen the Froling?

http://www.woodboilers.com/

Sounds like you like the idea of a lambda boiler. I think every lambda boiler 'requires' storage. If you don't have a second flue option; I'm not sure I've seen any dual fuel units that have lambda controls...
 
I'll be heading to Ahona within the next two weeks to check out Marks setup.
 
I'll be heading to Ahona within the next two weeks to check out Marks setup.

vigas4.JPG

One of the features that I like about the Vigas is the refractory nozzle. It appears to be fairly easy to change and if need be, to make yourself. Some where down the road refractory repair will be needed! I have been operating the same gasification boiler for 30+ years and the nozzle is considered to be a replaceable maintenance item; a nozzle that is easy to make and replace.
 
Good idea to check out in person any boilers you are interested in. Just remember fancy sheetmetal can hide a lot of sub par and shoddy workmanship of the pressure vessel.

I remember a few threads showing boilers with the skins off. Definitely a quality difference.

When you do the tours ask to see a panel or two taken off.
 
great advice. Ill try to find the thread showing the panels off. I wish there was an independent third party who was not paid by any of the companies to rate them. I think the cast iron of the Viadrus is great. Cast iron has been around for quite some time. Mark seems to be a pretty upfront no frills kind of guy. A throw back. he was very honest stating some of my choices are good selections and some are not. He stated he will show me why he believes his is a great unit that should be considered. The assistance with the install if i needed him means the world!!!!!!!!!!
 
great advice. Ill try to find the thread showing the panels off. I wish there was an independent third party who was not paid by any of the companies to rate them. I think the cast iron of the Viadrus is great. Cast iron has been around for quite some time. Mark seems to be a pretty upfront no frills kind of guy. A throw back. he was very honest stating some of my choices are good selections and some are not. He stated he will show me why he believes his is a great unit that should be considered. The assistance with the install if i needed him means the world!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely my take as well. I can't say enough good things about Mark. Never had him take long to get back to me. I think I talked to him at the fair for 2 years before I bought. He's a wealth of knowledge and he's a gentleman. He is very good about coming up with solutions.. he can shift gears in a minute if you are looking for cheap, high tech, redundancy, or scrounged. For sure worth the time to go to his shop. I've never been there but would love to see the place.

JP
 
Absolutely my take as well. I can't say enough good things about Mark. Never had him take long to get back to me. I think I talked to him at the fair for 2 years before I bought. He's a wealth of knowledge and he's a gentleman. He is very good about coming up with solutions.. he can shift gears in a minute if you are looking for cheap, high tech, redundancy, or scrounged. For sure worth the time to go to his shop. I've never been there but would love to see the place.

JP
Spent some time in Central NY State last week. Jumped in the jeep one morning and visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. On the way back I wanted to bring my wife over to see Mark's building since I've been telling her that I want one just like it but we had left the dogs in the RV and decided we had been gone too long so we skipped the visit.
 
Fred you missed a good take. J P you can fly to him and land on his grass strip out back. He will show you the Vigas that they cut in half at the factory and sent over to him.(it will be at Fryeburg this year) no need to remove panels to see the guts of this boiler.
 
Good idea to check out in person any boilers you are interested in. Just remember fancy sheetmetal can hide a lot of sub par and shoddy workmanship of the pressure vessel.

I remember a few threads showing boilers with the skins off. Definitely a quality difference.

When you do the tours ask to see a panel or two taken off.

Mike makes a good point.

You want to make sure when they take off the panels you want to take a look at everything. The welds, the craftsmanship of the build even the fan. There have been some boilers known for there fans falling apart during use. You want to make sure your new boiler will give you years of reliable use.
 
Which work best without storage? I want to add storage next season.
1. Vedolux
2. Vigas
3. Attack

Any other brands are welcomed
 
Tarm, Lyme N.H.-I believe they have a show room on site. I have an Innova not Lambda control, but very efficient and simple to run. Has a neg draft, no need for smoke hood. Tarm has good customer service.
 
Check out youtube also. Dean has got some videos of firing up and running the units he sells. Idk if he received any more nonlambda units in yet. I got the last one he had at the time and he wasnt sure when he was gonna get more.
 
Fred you missed a good take. J P you can fly to him and land on his grass strip out back. He will show you the Vigas that they cut in half at the factory and sent over to him.(it will be at Fryeburg this year) no need to remove panels to see the guts of this boiler.
Post some pics, that would be interesting to see.

But regardless of brand I'd still suggest a close examination of THE unit you choose not a one off demonstration boiler.
 
The hard part about purchasing a unit is sifting through the BS. Unfortunately these are not mainstream so you dont have many users of each different brands. What tends to happen is one guy talks his brand up on how its the greatest since sliced bread. Then you talk to someone else and there;s is the best since sliced bread. There has to be a way or a ranking system that supplies which units are ranked higher and the reason why. With any product you will ALWAYS have copy cats who simply add no value! Ive come across a few in the gassification market as well. It appears pricing is all over the map as well. I dont think people mind paying a premium if they actually could differentiate why the premium is in place rather than a statement like............"Our units are the best in Europe. Company X and Y copied our design. You have to navigate hearth with caution. Whose being paid for good reviews and who tells it like it is. This is my Jerry Maguire moment.

Why Mark is in the lead in my book. Upfront and never tried selling me a thing. Told me to come with my brother who is also looking to purchase a unit, for a lesson. Not a sale but a lesson.
 
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You asked for our advice and experience, that's what you're getting IMO. Don't see a whole lot of BS. Just our experience, which you do have to take with a grain of salt. But very little. Where you are, the majority of us have been there.

There is no Consumer Reports article on gasser's. When I first got on with Hearth, it was a bit overwhelming on the choices. But these guys here helped me a lot. With the fact of so many choices, I went with a brand thats been here a long time and has good customer service, etc. It was also a brand that my installer recognized and has had good dealings with. With that said, Tarm was on the high end of the pricing range.But it's worked well and simply. Thats my experience. They're not that far from you. (Of course everythings relative, i travel for an hour and 15 minutes @75mph just to get to a mall.)

With that said, last year i met Mark(AHONA) at a trade fair in Portland Maine. I thought the Vigas was a solid unit. And i really think you'll be happy with Mark and his passion for pleasing the customer with good products. Mark and his wife struck me as good people.

I also like the Garn, if you plan on stoarge.

FYI- This site provided me with this info. 1 cord of well seasoned(at least 1 yr of drying) wood will replace 150 gals of oil, once you get some experience with whatever you choose for a boiler, it will probably be closer to 175 gals of oil. When my wood is 18 months of seasoning i hit the 175 gal mark. Also, IMO, figure your wood at $175 a cord, even if you get it for free. Just makes it easier to budget, especially of you can't go cut the trees down yourself.

Good luck and cut/split/stack next(2014/15's) winters wood up now.
 
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